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At the start of each week, I like to look at ASIC's short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.
This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn't quite right with a company.
With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:
- Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) remains the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest easing to 11.8%. Revenue margin headwinds may be causing concerns.
- Betmakers Technology Group Ltd (ASX: BET) has seen its short interest ease slightly to 11.2%. This may be due to competition and cash burn concerns.
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has 10.4% of its shares held short, which is down slightly week on week. Falling lithium prices have been weighing on the sector.
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) has short interest of 9.7%, which is down week on week. The sustained weakness in spot lithium prices appears to be spooking investors.
- Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) has short interest of 9.3%, which is up week on week. This may be down to short sellers doubting Zip's ability to achieve its profitability goals.
- Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has seen its short interest ease to 9%. Short sellers will have been pleased to see this network as a service provider's shares sink last week after the shock exit of its CEO.
- Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) has short interest of 8.5%, which is up week on week again. This appears to be due to major cost blow outs at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project and lithium price weakness.
- Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) has returned to the top ten with short interest of 7.2%. Concerns about the sports betting company's cash burn could be behind this.
- JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) has arrived in the top ten with 7% of its shares held short. This may be due to fears over the impact of the cost of living crisis on consumer spending.
- Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT) has also entered the top ten with short interest of 6.8%. There may be fears that the economic environment could delay major contracts for this data centre operator.
